Fitting a Bath - Questions....

[mm289]

One for you plumbery/bathroomy types

Finished the en-suite, now moving onto the bathroom. All stripped and replastered so now fitting up the bath.

It is a generic acrylic type from iFlo but we have spec'd with solid side and end panel to match the cupboards. The panels are 18mm MDF but the clearance from the edge of the bath to the uprights that the feet fit onto is only about 13mm.

So what do you guys do when fitting solid panels to baths. Stick out 5mm, relieve the back of the MDF to clear the legs and fit flush etc? I must admit I had assumed it would sit inside the edge of the bath so water would naturally run down but not so. Its complictaed more by the fact our floor has a drop of 20mm (C18th house) so we are going to have to cut the MDF anyway to get it to fit, but I want to do this to the bottom not the top so I can seal to the floor.

The rim of the bath also has a wooden batten running around it inside the lip. This is what the uprights screw to. It also continues around the top of the bath where we need to bore holes for the tap to mount.

When we bore these holes any preferred method? I am thinking template followed by masking tape followed by a hole cutter of some sort? And is it normal that you end up drilling through the wooden batten when you drill the tap holes?

Place we got all the gear from is adamant the bath is suitable for surface mounted taps etc.

Any advice before I start chopping stuff up

Cheers,

MM

 

[Farside]

Is it plain MDF, with no finish on it yet?
How about replacing it with a sheet of 12mm ply? Put stiffening battens on the back of it, but you'd likely not need any.
Not the first time, and won't be the last, that parts supplied from a plumbing warehouse don't fit anything.

 

[mm289]

Its prepped MDF, cabinets are Shaker style and so is bath panel so all painted and moulded to match cupboards.......

Cheers,
MM

 

[Farside]

Its prepped MDF, cabinets are Shaker style and so is bath panel so all painted and moulded to match cupboards.......

Cheers,
MM

Looks like you'd better get the chisels out, then.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

One for you plumbery/bathroomy types

Finished the en-suite, now moving onto the bathroom. All stripped and replastered so now fitting up the bath.

It is a generic acrylic type from iFlo but we have spec'd with solid side and end panel to match the cupboards. The panels are 18mm MDF but the clearance from the edge of the bath to the uprights that the feet fit onto is only about 13mm.

So what do you guys do when fitting solid panels to baths. Stick out 5mm, relieve the back of the MDF to clear the legs and fit flush etc? I must admit I had assumed it would sit inside the edge of the bath so water would naturally run down but not so. Its complictaed more by the fact our floor has a drop of 20mm (C18th house) so we are going to have to cut the MDF anyway to get it to fit, but I want to do this to the bottom not the top so I can seal to the floor.

The rim of the bath also has a wooden batten running around it inside the lip. This is what the uprights screw to. It also continues around the top of the bath where we need to bore holes for the tap to mount.

When we bore these holes any preferred method? I am thinking template followed by masking tape followed by a hole cutter of some sort? And is it normal that you end up drilling through the wooden batten when you drill the tap holes?

Place we got all the gear from is adamant the bath is suitable for surface mounted taps etc.

Any advice before I start chopping stuff up

Cheers,

MM

Sounds a bit off.

Generally battens run around 3 sides and the tap end will just be 6mm ply bonded underneath the acrylic.
Sharp spade bit drills no bother and you have a few mm tolerance if the drill walks slightly.

I fit has a batten under the tap area will need cutting out to give clearance for the tap nuts to tighten down.

Every mdf panel I've fitted in 18mm has fitted straight under the lip.
I'd be routing out around the back where the legs foul and tucking it under.

Most of the mdf panels I've fitted are two part. Large top section and a smaller trim. 100mm high or so. Screw them together with the small piece behind the large panel to give a backset plinth to set the panl to height. Have in the past fixed a timber to the floor to screw the top panel to and used the lower trim as a skirting to finish.

 

[mm289]

Thanks guys,

ref the tap end you made me go check and apologies, it does have a thin ply bonded on, I had seen the wood and assumed it was a batten like at the foot end

Sounds a bit off.

Every mdf panel I've fitted in 18mm has fitted straight under the lip.
I'd be routing out around the back where the legs foul and tucking it under.

Most of the mdf panels I've fitted are two part. Large top section and a smaller trim. 100mm high or so. Screw them together with the small piece behind the large panel to give a backset plinth to set the panel to height. Have in the past fixed a timber to the floor to screw the top panel to and used the lower trim as a skirting to finish.

@eLuSiVeMiTe my chippie said exactly the same about the two part panel, that is what he was expecting. Pic below is of the underside of the bath and the one piece panel.

I had considered relieveing out the back of the MDF to clear the supports and get the face of the MDF just inide the lip, then can clear silicon it to seal. What I might think about doing is making up a bottom board, the MDF panel is 520mm so we have room to raise the bath a bit more on the adjustable feet and maybe fit a bit of white plinth or similar as a lower trim. This would mean we could cut this rather than the MDF - thoughts?

Cheers,

MM

 

[gaz1]

do yourself a favor put some wood supports under the bath most people and plumbers just fit legs and then fit the bath panels up

and thats it

i prefer some wood under the bath also as extra support for the bath at both mid range of the ends

 

[Olderisbetter]

do yourself a favor put some wood supports under the bath most people and plumbers just fit legs and then fit the bath panels up

and thats it

i prefer some wood under the bath also as extra support for the bath at both mid range of the ends

I call them chubby chocks, to help with the larger than average types

 

[Seadog]

I've never used the supplied legs. I much prefer timber verticals. Use four and you end up with a rigid, non-creaking, bath.

 

[angellonewolf]

when fitting a bath i always large slab wood screwed to flooor that covers over by half a foot the four legs with a cut out for the waste

lots of mastic the bath in the 2 or 3 edges where it fits against the 2 or 3 walls push hard and get off excess

screw 3 pieces of wood or 4 if it conects with 3 walls round the under side of the rim of the bath

when the mastic goes off its will go no where the wood is just added extra

build a small frame where the bath panel goes eather end


then tile grout and mastc for a 2nd protection


the last one i did at a mates house said its the first bath hes had that does not move

 

[jerrytug]

I call them chubby chocks, to help with the larger than average types

Good one

Another thing, at some point, somebody is going to fill that bath to the brim, how much will that weigh, maybe 1/4 ton?

 

[Seadog]

Another thing, at some point, somebody is going to fill that bath to the brim, how much will that weigh, maybe 1/4 ton?

More like 3/4 to a ton.

I always seat the bath by filling it.

 

[HopefullySoon]

Good one

Another thing, at some point, somebody is going to fill that bath to the brim, how much will that weigh, maybe 1/4 ton?

At some point .....

That would be me every time I take a bath (I prefer it to a shower ) .

 

[HopefullySoon]

1 meter cubed in water, is a metric tonne (ton ) ????

 

[Seadog]

1 meter cubed in water, is a metric tonne

It is.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

When I was a kid it was drag the galv steel bath up from the cellar and fill with water heated in a Burgo boiler. Moving to a house with an indoor toilet and fixed bath in 1963 was like winning the Pools

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

More like 3/4 to a ton.

I always seat the bath by filling it.

And fill before sealing the edges too.

Seen a few that give up,the seal first time it's filled and someone gets in.

 

[mm289]

The one we took out was cast iron - had to break it up before we could move it. Reckon it weighed about 100kg, plus maybe 275l of water plus two people say just over 500kg

All that was resting on 4 very well made but small cast iron feet (it was a modern JP Hart cast bath) sitting on 18mm MDF floor over the original C18th floor/ceiling joists

When we fitted the bath in the en-suite we had to put in a 18mm finish ply stressed floor and glue/screw to re-inforced joists to keep the structural engineer happy

On the upside I now have 4 lovely cast iron mounts that will level something like my table for the granite surface plate very nicely and the 4 aluminium brackets that suspended the bidet and toilt from the wall look pretty useful as well

Cheers,

MM